Hurricane lantern for vehicles



NOV. 3, 1942. N

v HURRICANE LANTERN FOR VEHICLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 6, 1939 Nov. 3, 1942. I B. NlER 1,

HURRICANE LANTERN FOR VEHICLES Filed Feb. 6, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor: j. 9?:67

Patented Nov. 3, 1942 HURRICANE LANTERN FOR VEHICLES Bruno Nier, Beierfeld, Germany; vested in the Alien Property Custodian Application February 6, 1939, Serial No. 254,953 In Germany August 24, 1938 8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in hurricane or storm lanterns for vehicles.

It is the object of the invention to provide means by which lanterns of the kind referred to are made safe against the detrimental effects of shocks exerted on the lantern by unevenness of the road or the like and producing especially flickering light or going out of the lantern.

A special object of the invention is to provide means by which the feed of air to the lantern is regulated or smoothed in such a manner that the said air feed is not detrimentally influenced by shocks or other sudden movements of the lantern.

With these and other objects in view, as may become apparent from the within disclosures, the invention consists not only of the structures herein pointed out and illustrated by the drawings, but includes further structures coming within the scope of what hereinafter, may be claimed.

The character of the invention, however, may be best understood by reference to certain of its structural forms, illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a storm or hurricane lantern having the invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a section on line AB of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the same lantern.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, of a modified form.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, and first to Figs. 1 to 3, the lantern comprises a lantern I having a fixed chimney or funnel 2 and an outer casing or cover 3 in which a Window 4 is provided on the rear side, with respect to the travelling direction which is indicated by an arrow 6, and a central top aperture 5, for the discharge of the combustion gases.

The casing advantageously consists of, two shells connected by a hinge I and held in a closed position by a spring lock or spring catch 8. Eyelets I at each of the shells may serve for engagement of a lock to prevent theft.

Provided in the casing 3, at the front side of the lantern, with respect to the travelling direction 6, is a vent hole II the upper edge of which advantageously is arranged to be at the same level as the lower edge of the chimney 2. It is also contemplated, within the purview of this invention, to provide several vent holes, and if desired the same may be provided at different levels. Mounted in the aperture II is a vent channel I2 extending into the space within the casing 3 and advantageously reaching under the chimney 2 of the storm lantern. Further, a. box shaped projection I3 is mounted at the outside of the casing 3, which box is downwardly open and serves to protect the vent hole II and vent pipe l2 against entering of mud or stones. A further mudguard I4 extends upwards from the projection I3 beyond the central opening 5 of the casing and is connected with the casing at its upper portion, by a stay I5. Screws or bolts I6 on the casing serve to mount the lantern on the vehicle. The foot ll of the storm lantern is clamped in the casing by three angle pieces I8 and a wire lever 20 hinged at I9.

The portions I2 and I3 of the casing may be in the form of independent parts which are secured to the casing by tongues or lugs 2| or 22, respectively, which are passed thru suitable slots in the wall of the casing, and bent over.

Advantageously, the vent channel I2 is provided with means for adjusting its passage cross section. To this end, a flap valve 23 is provided in the lantern according to Figs. 1 to 3, and mounted on a shaft 24 extending thru the walls of the vent channel I2 and casing 3 and adapted to be fixed in any adjusted position by thumb nuts 25.

According to Fig. 4, a slide valve is provided in the channel I2, instead of a flap valve. As will be seen from Fig. 4, a slide 26 extends thru a slot in the channel I2 and is connected with an angle piece 21 the lower end of which can be secured to the wall of the casing by meansof a screw or bolt 29 extending thru a vertical slot in the wall of the casing and adapted to be secured thereto in any set position in said slot, by a thumb or butterfly nut 28. Thus, the position of the slide 26 in the vent channel I2 may be adjusted in the desired manner.

I have found that my novel storm lantern is much more shock proof than the existing lanterns, i. c. it does not tend to go out as a result of shocks produced by sudden hollows or elevations of the road. The said favourable effect is probably due to the fact that by the above mentioned means, especially by the vent hole I I the air feed to the lantern is regulated or smoothened and prevented from being interrupted as a result of such sudden shocks.

Moreover, I have found that the favourable properties of my novel lantern can be further improved by the provision of partition walls in the casing below the chimney, as indicated at 30 and 3| in Figs. 1 and 2. The said partition walls may be in the form of annular metal sheets the inner diameter of which is somewhat smaller than the diameter of the lower edge of the chimney; the partition walls may be secured to the two shells forming the casing 3 by any suitable means, such as, tongues extending thru slots in the shells, by spot welding or the like.

The favourable effect of the partition walls may be explained as follows: Sudden shocks exerted on the lamp, more particularly in a downward direction, produce disturbances in the feed of air to the flame which, while not always causing going out of the lamp, produce flickering thereof. This is probably due to the fact that the air flowing in at sudden downward movements of the lantern, thru the bottom holes 3 of the casing and thru the vent channel and escaping thru the top aperture of the casing, produces a sudden suction or vacuum whereby flickering or going out of th lamp occurs. The said partition walls now establish a resistance against such sudden suction.

I wish to make it clear that while each of the said means, that is, vent hole ll, vent pipe 12,

box I3 and partition walls 39 and 3| produce favourable effects with respect to the smooth burnin of the lantern and may be independently used, a particularly good effect is produced by the combined action of these means. Indeed, where a vent channel l2 of the type shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is provided, the effect of the partition wall 3| is to a certain extent produced already by the said channel, so that the partition wall 31' may be omitted, if desired.

I am aware that many changes may be made and numerous details of construction may be varied thru a wide range without departing from the principle of this invention.

I claim:

1. A storm lantern for vehicles, comprising a lantern system, a casing which surrounds said lantern system and is provided with a central top aperture and with at least one vent hole in its front wall, with respect to the travelling direction, a protective hood secured to said casing, in front of the vent hole, and a curved protective screen extending from the front side of said casing over the top thereof and beyond the central top aperture.

2. A storm lantern for vehicles, comprising a lantern system, a casing which surrounds said lantern system and is provided with a central top aperture and with at least one vent hole in its front wall, with respect to the travelling direction, a protective hood secured to said casing, in front of the vent hole, and a curved protective screen extending from said hood over the top of the casing and beyond the central top aperture.

3. A storm lantern for vehicles comprising in combination with a hurricane lantern including a chimney and air passages communicating with the lower edge of the chimney, a casing surrounding said lantern and provided with apertures in the bottom, with an open top and with at least one vent hole in the front wall with respect to the traveling direction, and an air channel extending from the vent hole towards the lantern and terminating in the vicinity of the lower edge of the chimney.

4. A storm lantern for vehicles comprising in combination with a hurricane lantern including a chimney and air passages communicating with the chimney, a casing surrounding said lantern and provided with an open top and also provided with at least one vent hole in the front wall with respect to the traveling direction, an air channel extending from the vent hole towards the lantern and terminating adjacent the bottom of said chimney, and deflecting means arranged in spaced relation in front of the vent hole and over the top f the casing.

5. A storm lantern for vehicles comprising in combination with a hurricane lantern including a chimney and air passages communicating with the chimney, a casing surrounding the said lantern and provided with an opening in the top above the chimney and provided with a vent hole in the front wall thereof with respect to the traveling direction, an air channel extending from the vent hole to a point in proximity to the bottom of the chimney, means for varying the cross sectional area of said channel, and deflecting means arranged in spaced relation to the vent hole and over the top of the casing.

, in the channel.

'7. A storm lantern as claimed in claim 5, in which the means for varying the cross sectional area of the channel includes an adjustable slide valve.

8. A storm lantern for vehicles comprising in combination with a hurricane lantern including a chimney and air passages communicating with the chimney, a casing for housing the lantern provided with an opening above the chimney and L also provided with a vent hole in the front wall with respect to the traveling direction, an air the lantern and the casing for at least partly l obstructing said annular space and located approximately at the top of the air channel.

BRUNO NIER. 

